The business and culture of our digital lives, from the L.A. Times

PlayStation Store back up and running after being down more than a month

June 2, 2011 | 3:34
pm

The PlayStation Store is back online, and available to gamers using Sony's PlayStation Network -- after being out of commission more than a month.

"The PlayStation Store is back online and thank you everyone for your patience," wrote Grace Chen, the director of Sony's PlayStation Store. "You will notice a huge lineup of new downloadable games, demos, add-on content, themes, avatars and videos. Also, PlayStation Plus has been updated with new full game trials, free games and DLC, free avatars and even more discounts."

But, as Sony gamers would know, all of those updates are business as usual at the PlayStation Store.

The Welcome Back package Sony promised last month alongside ID-theft insurance isn't yet available in the online storefront. The package will include one month of free PlayStation Plus membership for PlayStation Network users and extensions of subscriptions for PlayStation Plus and Qriocity customers to make up for the time they lost because of the closure.

The Welcome Back offer is "currently in the final stages of testing and will be available to download soon; we'll be sure to let you know when," she wrote.

The delay of the Welcome Back package will no doubt frustrate many, while others might be satisfied that the Store is running again after its shutdown April 20.

On May 14, Sony relaunched its PlayStation Network service, which allows PlayStation owners to play multiplayer video games online with friends. But the return of the PSN didn't include the PlayStation Store -- which sells games, movies and other entertainment content -- until Thursday.

Sony shut down the store after discovering its servers had been hacked as far back as April 17 and that the personal information of more than 90 million customers had probably been stolen.

Altogether, the hacking of the PlayStation network has cost Sony more than $172 million, nearly as much as the company incurred in damage from the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March.